DRAGGED into the collapsed trial of Tyneside rival John Henry Sayers, notorious villain Paddy Conroy today hits back at claims he masterminded a jury nobbling plot.

DRAGGED into the collapsed trial of Tyneside rival John Henry Sayers, notorious villain Paddy Conroy today hits back at claims he masterminded a jury nobbling plot.

The infamous hardman served 11 years for the chilling torture of Billy Collier following a trial in 1995 after going on the run in Spain.

But in sensational claims made at Woolwich Crown Court last month, Mr Conroy was accused of being the brains behind a jury nobbling plot during the Freddie Knights murder trial in 2002.

It was claimed he acted to put Mr Sayers back behind bars following years of violence between two of Tyneside’s most notorious feuding families.

Today, in an exclusive interview with the Chronicle, Mr Conroy:

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claimed allegations of murder, jury nobbling and assault have ripped a hole in his life;

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revealed he warned tragic Freddie Knights just weeks before his death that a plot had been hatched that would end with his brutal slaying in front of his family;

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demanded a lie detector test to clear his name following a string of allegations so he can focus his attention on his children;

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spoke of growing up on the streets of Newcastle’s West End alongside the Sayers family and his long-running prison cell feuds with his rival.

Mr Knights was shot and killed on the doorstep of his mam’s Longbenton home in 2000 as he made his way to collect presents for his son.

Two years later, Mr Sayers was cleared of the killing while his co-accused were sent to prison on charges of manslaughter.

But supergrass Errol Hay claimed he made a late-night phone call to the Leeds home of juror Robert Black in which he threatened his family and offered him £10,000 if he “made the right decision”.

Mr Sayers’ legal team, during the recent hearing at Woolwich Crown Court, claimed the call was concocted by Mr Conroy and Hay was a cog in a plot to send Mr Sayers to prison if he was acquitted of planning the gangland slaying in 2000.

Now Mr Conroy has broken his silence and blasted the allegations, claiming his life has been put on hold.

He said: “During the Freddie Knights trial, in 2002, I was accused of that murder. I’ve been accused of others in the past.

“I’m angry about the allegations in court of jury nobbling, but I’m more angry about the murders that I’ve been accused of. It ruins your life, and I want to concentrate on my children.

“I was at the Freddie Knights murder trial in 2002 because I knew they were pointing the finger at me for the murder.

“I’m prepared to take a lie detector test for any of the allegations against me.

“In court it was said I hated the Sayers. I’ve got no reason to hate them, but I’m not happy with them.”

Holed up in some of the country’s most notorious prisons following a life of crime, Mr Conroy claims there was a constant contract on his head.

Funded by the distribution of heroin, the 50-year-old says he was targeted on a daily basis.

And Mr Conroy also claimed he tried to strike a deal with rival criminals to stop them flooding the streets of Tyneside with crack cocaine.

But following claims that he was behind the 2002 murder, Mr Conroy has had to close his nightclub, the former New Buzz club in Stanley, as he focuses on clearing his name.

Mr Conroy, of Denton Road, Newcastle, said: “I’ve never bothered with the Sayers before, we grew up on the same streets and we weren’t bothered.

“We’ve grown up and we’ve been in the same pubs and there’s no issue.

“I own a nightclub in Stanley, but I’ve had to shut it while I try to clear my name. I’ve been sentenced to 17 years in prison for offences I have not committed.

“I knew there was a plot to kill Freddie Knights. I was in prison at the time, but I rang his family and told them that it was going to happen.

“I was trying to warn him, and warn him, and warn him. He still ended up getting murdered though.”

Mr Conroy also continues to deny that he was behind the torture of Billy Collier, in which pliers were used to rip off his nose and wrench out his teeth.

He said: “I was prosecuted in 1995. There’s evidence that will prove my innocence and show I was framed, but no-one will look at it.

“I’ve been campaigning since the trial, nearly 20 years.

“I admitted that I beat him up earlier, but they said I was there, giving the orders. I was nowhere near that.

“I served eight years and I was a double Category A prisoner. I was strip-searched three times a day, and I was accompanied by a prison guard everywhere.

“I have never once ‘spoken out of school’. My dad brought me up never to talk to the police and I have never gone back on that until I had to defend myself from these murder accusations.”

Sparked from nowhere, the feud between the Conroy and Sayers families has gained notoriety on Tyneside.

They clashed in 2004 when Mr Conroy claims he was surrounded in a city centre street by a gang of 14 members of the Sayers clan, in which he was knifed in the face.

And in another chilling stand-off, they came face to face with each other during a prison stint in Whitemoor, Cambridgeshire.

Mr Conroy said: “I had a fight with Sayers in prison. I had just arrived and he sent someone to my door telling me he wanted to see me in the exercise yard.

“I went down and confronted him and we had a chat.

“When we were both in Newcastle, we went into some of the same bars and we didn’t click but we still got on.”

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